Scientists have discovered a microbe that interacts with a hazardous industrial chemical in tainted groundwater rendering it biodegradable.

Trichloroethane (TCA) is an industrial solvent and a major polluter of groundwater in 696 of the priority sites listed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Up until now, no process was known for easily treating TCA contaminated aquifers and groundwater.

Last week, Michigan State University researchers reported in the journal Science that a bacteria, previously unknown and found in the mud of river bottoms, uses the process of respiration to completely neutralize any TCA it contacts within about two months.